The advent of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin in particular have shaken highly disputable industry of online gambling to the ground. Will these changes be for good – only time will show, but the current tendency looks promising.

 

What is the scale of Bitcoin casinos phenomenon?

One may think that it is not a big deal and only a small group of crypto-enthusiasts involved in such unusual type of leisure, but the real numbers may surprise: in 2013, when the popularity of Bitcoin was far from its peak, gambling-related transactions within the whole Bitcoin network constituted about 50% of its volume. Since then, the number of crypto gambling websites has grown dramatically (from dozens to hundreds). For instance, in Stake bitcoin casino which was founded only two years ago has already made more than 12 billion bets. It is truly impressive numbers, but quite expected considering the advantages crypto-casinos have over usual online gambling websites.

 

The indisputable advantages

All the great features cryptocurrency brings the world of online payments can be applied particularly to the online gambling sector:

• Transactions speed. When it comes to transactions speed cryptocurrency is a king. While conventional online payment systems may delay a payment in order to check if it fits their standards (e.g. payment purpose, user’s limit etc.) crypto has no bureaucracy and a payment goes directly from user to user in a blink of an eye.
• Location boundaries elimination. Cryptocurrency is a worldwide phenomenon so users can send and receive payments no matter where they live. It is especially relevant in the case with online gambling because most of usual online casinos apply restrictions on players from some jurisdictions, while vast majority of crypto casinos don’t.
• Anonymity. Extremely important factor for any gambler is no doubt confidentiality and cryptocurrency totally satisfies this need. Moreover, some bitcoin casinos don’t even require registration, which is possible thanks to latest technologies they implement.
• Be your own bank. As mentioned above, conventional payment systems keep an eye on the cash flow of their users which can lead to the account hold in any moment due to any reason the system management may consider appropriate. There is no such option for cryptocurrency wallet as the user has full control over it. Thus, you are free to perform any amount of transactions (regardless the purpose) without third-party supervision.
• Transparency. Along with crypto casinos “provably fair” algorithm has come to the scene. It is relatively new realization of random generator algorithm, which allows players to check if the game result of the game was not manipulated.
• More games diversity. To be competitive and attract players bitcoin casinos have to offer new gaming experience which leads to custom games development. One of the most popular games among crypto gambling community is dice.

 

Crypto-gaming

Another significant part of online entertainment industry is also undergoing remarkable changes. Blockchain technology allowed game developers to reconsider the whole concept of digital assets ownership in players favor. Now, if you craft or find an epic sword it is truly your digital property as the evidence of that will be “engraved” in the public blockchain instead of being stored on developer’s server. This, at the first glance, insignificant change alone brings online games to the next level by making impossible for anyone except the real asset owner to manipulate it, whether it is dishonest game developer or hacker. Such approach will most likely lead to significant rise of game items value and owning a house in a game will be comparable to have a real house.

A great example is CryptoKitties. It is a blockchain-based collectible game which runs on Ethereum Casinos smart-contract platform. Long story short, player can create fancy cats, sell it to other players and all these transactions information will be forever stored on the game’s blockchain. Thus, the most expensive kitty ever sold on the platform was traded for 600 ETH (which was $170,000 at the time of transaction). 

Conclusion

Based on the above we can conclude that even though crypto-gambling and crypto-gaming are only in the beginning of its way it can already cover some of the demands the industry has which was technically impossible without cryptocurrency.